Female Fans Love New Grand Theft Auto Despite Demeaning Content

A close view of the packaging of Grand Theft Auto V at the midnight opening at the HMV music store in London on Tuesday. It made history with a record $800 million in sales on its first day. This version continues to generate controversy over its glorification of violence, drugs and its demeaning portraits of women.

Leon Neal
/ AFP/Getty Images

Listen

Listening...

/

Originally published on September 20, 2013 1:02 pm

Grand Theft Auto made video game history this week: The latest version of the game had a record $800 million in sales on its first day. As with past versions, the game is generating controversy over its glorification of violence and drugs and its demeaning portrayal of women.

But around 15 percent of its fans are women, who find much to like about the game, even if they do have some ambivalence about it.

Game developer Whitney Hills, 28, says initially she was nervous about even trying it. "Most of the press surrounding it was — Oh, it's a prostitute-killing game, you know," she says, "like this entire game is about murdering people and the worst things humanity can possibly do."

But, a few years back, with a bit of trepidation, Hills tried Version 4. To her surprise, she says she found the writing to be "incredibly sly, intelligent and subversive."

In real life, Hills drives a motorcycle. But in Grand Theft Auto she can have a car, and if she doesn't like the one she's in, as the title of the game suggests, she just steals a new one.

"You can just cruise around in your car or any number of cars and sort of just experience the open world and listen to the radio, which always has great music on it," she says. And the commercials crack her up.

Among the commercials is one from Fineberg and Vanwick International Realty that promises "an up-and-coming opportunity for the go-getter. Take your future by the throat, throttle it, get mortgaged to the hilt, take no prisoners."

Hills was cruising around a town modeled on New York in Grand Theft Auto IV. The new release is a fictional version of Los Angeles.

Chelsea Stark, a gamer and critic for the website Mashable, says it's just as fun. "Everything is clearly this satirical image of Los Angeles and Southern California. And it's almost like appreciating something like South Park, where you're like, this is just satire of what criminals are," she says.

Stark says one of the big draws of Grand Theft Auto is that it is a really full and complicated world and between heists you can explore it. "You can get in your car and you can drive for 40 minutes and the world around you changes from city to the country and you see like wild animals crossing your path. It's just kind of this crazy immersive world," she says.

Among the game's details are sendups of social media; there's a fake Facebook called LifeInvader and a fake Twitter called Bleeter. You can play golf and tennis, and one of the characters — Michael, a retired bank robber — lives in the suburbs with his wife, portrayed as a nag (as you'd imagine in this game), and his kids.

The family lives in a mansion in Vinewood, clearly a fictional version of Hollywood.

This being a sendup of Hollywood, Michael gets introduced to yoga by his wife's personal teacher. The couple gets private lessons by the pool, while Michael's wife releases her barely masked frustrations with him. "Look at the concentration on this face," she says mockingly. "It's like a gorilla with a cellphone."

As in previous versions of Grand Theft Auto, there's a strip club; you get points for groping the women while avoiding the bouncer's attention.

Stark admits she is ambivalent about those parts of the game. "It's hard for even me to reconcile. I'm like, I still like this game a lot, I get why it's problematic because I'm a critic. But I also appreciate it for being fun."

One of the most innovative features of Grand Theft Auto V is that you can switch perspectives from Michael, the suburban bank robber, to Trevor, a meth dealer and gunrunner, or to Franklin, an aspiring crook.

That's where Stark starts to feel frustration. "For the first time you can play three different characters, and yet it's like, couldn't one of them have been a female?"

The creators of Grand Theft Auto turned down a request to talk to NPR, but in other interviews game developer Sam Houser suggested that women didn't fit into the hypermasculine narrative.

Gamer Karen Price, 43, says she understands some of the ambivalence about the game, but she thinks most grown-ups are smart enough to get that it's satire.

"That's what's enjoyable about it. It's like dress-up. You had a hard day at work, you go home and you run over some people and steal their money. You feel better," she says.

To Price and other fans of the Grand Theft Auto franchise, video games are part of a culture that's already exploring anti-heroes like Walter White in Breaking Bad or Tony Soprano. Price says it would be nice if there were a few more female anti-heroes.

Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Let's talk now about a video game that managed to take in $800 million in just one day this week: "Grand Theft Auto Five." It was the first day of sales for the latest version of the franchise and it was a record. As usual, controversy is already spinning; controversy around the games alleged glorification of violence and drugs, and demeaning portraits of women. The game certainly is dominated by guys but around 15 percent of its fans are women.

As NPR's Laura Sydell reports, they find much to like about the game.

LAURA SYDELL, BYLINE: "Grand Theft Auto Five" first came out 16 years ago. Twenty-eight-year-old game developer Whitney Hills says she was turned off by what she heard about it.

WHITNEY HILLS: Most of the press surrounding it was oh, it's a prostitute killing game, you know, like this entire game is about, you know, murdering people and the worst things humanity can possibly do.

SYDELL: But, a few years back, with a bit of trepidation, Hills tried version four.

HILLS: I found the writing to be incredibly sly, and intelligent and subversive.

SYDELL: In real life, Hills drives a motorcycle - but in "Grand Theft Auto," she can have a car and if she doesn't like the one she's in - as the title of the game suggests - she can just steal a new one.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

HILLS: You can just cruise around in your car or any number of cars and sort of just experience the open world, listen to the radio, which always has great music on it.

SYDELL: Hills says the radio commercials crack her up.

(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO COMMERCIAL)

SYDELL: Hill was cruising around a town modeled on New York in "Grand Theft Auto 4." The new release is a fictional version of Los Angeles. Chelsea Stark - a gamer and critic for the website "Mashable," says it's just fun.

CHELSEA STARK: Everything is clearly like this satirical image of Los Angeles and Southern California and like it's almost like you're appreciating something like "South Park" where you're like this is just satire of what criminals are.

SYDELL: Stark says one of the big draws of "Grand Theft Auto" is that it's a really full and complicated world - between heists you can explore it.

Among the games details are send ups of social media. There's a fake Facebook called "LifeInvader" and a fake Twitter called "Bleeter." You can play golf and tennis and one of the characters Michael, a retired bank robber, lives in the suburbs with his wife, portrayed as a nag, of course, and kids. This being a satire of LA he gets introduced to yoga.

(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO GAME, "GRAND THEFT AUTO 5")

SYDELL: As in previous versions of "Grand Theft Auto," there's a strip club; you get points for groping the women, while avoiding the bouncer's attention. Stark, admits she does have ambivalence about those parts of the game.

STARK: It's hard for even me to reconcile. I'm like I still like this game a lot. I get why it's problematic because I'm a critic. But I also appreciate it for being fun.

SYDELL: One of the most innovative features of "Grand Theft Auto 5" is that you can switch perspectives from Michael - the suburban bank robber - to Trevor a meth dealer and gun runner, or Franklin an aspiring crook.

STARK: I think that was the biggest disappointment, in the fact that we have the first time you can play three different characters and yet, it's like, couldn't one of them have been a female?

SYDELL: The creators of "Grand Theft Auto" turned down a request to talk to NPR, but in other interviews game developer Sam Houser suggested that women didn't fit into the hyper masculine narrative.

Karen Price a 43 year old gamer says she understands some of the ambivalence about the game, but she thinks most grown ups are smart enough to get that its satire.

KAREN PRICE: And that that's what's enjoyable about it is, it's like dress up. You had a hard day at work you go home and you run over some people and steal their money, you feel better.

SYDELL: To Price and others, video games are part of a culture that's already exploring anti-heroes like Walter White in "Breaking Bad" or Tony Soprano. Price says it would be nice if there were a few more female anti-heroes.